East End Real Estate By the Numbers: 1st Quarter Lookback

Whether you are planning to buy or sell, prognosticating, or preparing to be the most interesting person at your next Hamptons cocktail party—numbers that emerged during the first quarter of 2014 from the East End real estate market have a good story to tell.

Up, up and…the Hamptons enjoyed an 18.9% increase in median home price during the first quarter of 2014 versus the same period in 2013.

37 homes sold for $5 million or more in the first part of this year, up from just 8 at the start of 2013.

528 homes were sold in the Hamptons during the first quarter of 2014—a 52% increase over the 347 during that time frame a year ago.

Here and There$880,000: Median price of a Hamptons home
$345,000: Median price of a Long Island home

Is there a second-home surge on the way? The National Association of Realtors says vacation homes accounted for 13% of all 2013 sales, the highest percentage in seven years.

In 2013, one home sold for more than $10 million in the first quarter. In 2014, there were six.

North Fork residential sales rose 60% compared with the first quarter of 2013, increasing from 107 to 171

North Fork Q1 sales volume was $103.1 million, up 66% from last year’s first-quarter $62.02 million

A uniquely East End real estate market activity indicator, Peconic Community Preservation Fund (CPF) revenue—raised via a tax on most real estate transactions in the five East End towns and used for the purchase and preservation of farmland and open spaces—for the first quarter was $15.59 million in 2010, $12.6 million in 2011, $10.5 million in 2012, and $20.23 million in 2013. This year, $21.85 million was collected. Of all the towns, Riverhead rose the most, 66.7%, with revenue of $850,000.

Villa Maria’s 22,000 square feet are the most among any of the top 10 priciest residences for sale in the Hamptons. The Water Mill manse designed by architect George Skidmore in 1887 lists for $69,000,000—that’s $3,136 per square foot if you’re doing the math (and now you can stop doing the aforementioned math).

A $147 million sale in East Hampton and a $31.6 million sale in North Haven, both waterfront, rank as the two most expensive thus far in 2014. Last year, 9 of the 10 most expensive sales in the Hamptons were waterfront properties.

Consider the adage that as Wall Street goes, so goes the East End real estate market. Then consider the New York State Comptroller’s estimate that Wall Street’s 2013 bonus pool rose 15% to $26.7 billion—the most since the 2008 financial crisis.